Back Home
by SunFlowerViolinist
Summary: Rory leaves when she is sixteen and returns five years later. With her four year old daughter. What will happen? Read to find out. Chapters 1 & 2 are rewrites.
1. Chapter 1

Lorelai Gilmore walked into her house with pizza in hand. However, to her shock her house was overwhelmingly still. Normally her sixteen year old daughter would have been sitting there on the sofa working on her homework as music blasted through the whole house. But, Rory wasn't sitting there today. "Rory I'm home and I have pizza!" She yelled as she walked down the hall to her daughter's room to find it empty too. "Rory where are you?" Lorelai asked herself softly as she walked across the hall to the bathroom only to find it empty to. She walked back into the living room as her heart raced she ran up stairs. "Rory this isn't funny. You're scaring me. Rory!" She yelled as she walked into her room to find it empty. She grabbed the phone off her night stand and quickly dialed a number.

_"Hello."_ Luke's annoyed voice said on the other line. Tears had started running down her face as she looked out her window.

"Luke, Rory's gone. I got home and she not here." Lorelai said through her tears as she walked back down stairs.

_"I am on my way." _Luke said as panic set in his voice before he hung up. Lorelai just sat on the sofa and let herself fall to pieces. Her kid never would run away. Or would she? Did Lorelai miss something? She thought she knew Rory better than anyone. It seemed like no time passed at all before Luke was bursting through her front door.

"Luke how did you get here so fast?" She asked as she looked up at her hero in fannel. If anyone could find Rory it would be Luke Danes.

"This is Stars Hollow." He said softly. "And I speed as fast as I could." He replied as Lorelai got up and wrapped her arms around him.

"Why would she leave?" She asked through her tears.

"Did you two have a fight?' Luke asked as he pulled away from her and looked right into those soft blue eyes of hers. It killed him to see her in so much pain. She just shook her head and barely managed to get the word "No" out of her mouth. "Did her and Dean have a fight?" He asked, but Lorelai did the same thing as the first time.

"Not that I know of. Rory tells me everything or at least she used to." Lorelai said with pain in her voice. Luke thought to check the voicemail just to see if she left Lorelei a message. Sure enough Rory's voice filled the house in a simple message.

"_Mom I'm sorry but, I have to go. Love you." _ Lorelai couldn't believe that was all her daughter had to say. She practically dropped to the ground. She would have if Luke wasn't there to catch her.

"Why? What could have possibly made her leave?" Lorelai asked softly as she looked at her long time friend before the sound of another voice came out of the answering machine.

"_Miss. Gilmore. It's Doctor Parker your test results came back positive." _Lorelai remember enough of how scared she was when she found out she was going to have Rory that she pieced it together in her head. However, it still seemed unreal to her. "I'm going to kill him. He hurt her." She said as he sorrow turned to anger. It took Luke a minute to figure out what she meant.

"You don't think… she couldn't." Luke said as the two sat down on the sofa.

"She is." Lorelai said as looked at the floor. Her mother was right. Rory was just like her. What about Chilton and Harvard? "She's not going. She's not graduating. She's just like me." Lorelai said as she answered her own question out loud before the tears came back. Luke just sat there holding her as she sobbed most the night.

The next few days were the worst. People just keep talking as word spread throughout the town. Somehow Luke managed to get her out of the house just three days after her daughter left. She just sat at the counter of his diner listening to the whispers. She was getting ready to leave when Dean stopped her. She blamed him for Rory leaving. "Lorelai I need to ask you something." He said as he looked at her. For a moment she felt bad for him, he almost looked as bad as she did.

"What?" She asked him as she stabbed him to death with a fork in her head.

"Is it true that Rory is … pregnant?" He asked whispering the last part. She just nodded her head as her heart dropped. The more she said it the more it became real.

"I can't believe this." He replied as his head dropped.

"What that you're going to be a dad?" She asked in anger. She couldn't believe that her daughter would ever let this idiot touch her.

"It's not mine…we never…you know." He replied softly as she saw the pain in his eyes.

"Oh." She said softly.

"Sorry." He said before he walked away.

"Luke I will be upstairs." She said as she looked at him.

"Why?" He asked from across the room.

"I don't want to be in that house." She said softly before disappearing into the back.

The next day Lorelai found herself standing in the Chilton parking lot waiting to talk to Paris. Once she saw her she ran after her. "Paris." She said as she caught the young girl by the arm.

"This is about Rory isn't?" Paris asked as she looked at Lorelai. Lorelai just nodded as she looked at the her daughter's friend…if you could call her that. "You want to talk to Tristan. He is the one who told me she left." The young blonde replied.

"How did he know?"

"She called him… he's the father." Paris said softly as Tristan walked passed.

"BIBLE BOY GET BACK HERE!" Lorelai yelled as she ran after him. "Where is Rory?" She asked as she caught up to him.

"I don't know." He said as he looked at her. For the first time Lorelai saw emotion in that boy. "I love your daughter and I want to find her. You don't know how much I just want to hold her in my arms right now. But, Rory…if she doesn't want to be found…she won't be." He said before he walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

Five Years Later….

Rory Gilmore looked around her empty apartment one last time. She walked out the door to see her car packed full of her belongings. Her little girl was leaned up next to the car. "Why do we have to move?" The little girl asked as Rory buckled her in.

"It's an adventure." She replied softly before kissing her daughter's head.

"Right, Sandy told me it was because Mr. Donkey fired you." The little girl replied. It was true her boss at the paper had fired her. He had no choice though. He had to let someone go and she was the newest.

"Hey what have I told you about doubting the Momma?" Rory asked as she smiled at her little girl. It was hard for her to believe that her little baby was so big. In her mind Hope would always be the little eight pound thing placed in her arms the day she was born.

"Not to." Hope said as she watched her mother get behind the wall.

"Wave goodbye to Boston baby girl." Rory said as she started the car. Hope just looked out the window. It wasn't long before she drifted to sleep. Which was for the best because Rory wouldn't want Hope to see her cry as she followed the directions she had placed in the glove box. She followed them all the way home. She tried to be happy as she passed the Welcome to Stars Hollow sign, but she knew this wasn't going to be easy. She didn't exactly leave on the best terms. She parked right across the street from the town square. Looking over at the mess of people decorating for the firelight festival.

"Mommy where are we?" Hope asked as she opened her eyes to realize they had stopped.

"Home. We are home baby girl." Rory said as she smiled at her daughter.

"Oh." Hope said as she looked at her mother. "I am hungry." She said as she started to look around.

"Okay, I know where to go to fix that." Rory said as she got out of the car. It wasn't long before the two walked down main street. Rory couldn't help but to notice that people were starring at her.

"Where are we going?" Hope asked as she looked up at her mother. Rory just looked at the shop in front of them with the sign that read: Taylor's Old Fashioned Soda Shoppe.

"That's new." Rory mumbled to herself.

"Mommy answer my question." Hope said as she tugged on her mother's arm.

"We are here." Rory said as the two walked down to the entrance of Luke's.

"Luke's Diner." Hope said as she read the sign.

"Good job baby girl." Rory said as she opened the door for the little girl. The diner was busy, but it seemed to her that everyone seemed to stop what they were doing as soon as she walked in. Miss. Patty and Babette start whispering as she walked passed them and sat Hope on a stool at the counter. Luke just came around the corner from the back and stood frozen at the sight that he saw.

"Rory." He mumbled as he looked at her. He just sat the order in his hands down on the counter before walking to the door. "Diner's closed, you're foods on the house just get out." He said as he held the door open. Everyone just whispered as they left. Once they were gone he just locked the door and looked at the two girls in front of him. It wasn't long before Lane came out from the back with plates.

"Luke where did my table go?" She asked before she realized who was sitting at the counter. "Rory." She said as she dropped the plates in her hands and ran over to hug her childhood friend. "You bitch." Lane said as she looked at Rory before hugging her again. "God we have missed you so much." She said softly.

"What the hell is going on down here?" Lorelai asked as her and April came running down from upstairs after hearing the plates hit the floor. Lane just let go of Rory. For the first time in Five years Rory was face to face with her mother. She just stood up and smiled.

"I'm home." She said softly. Tears just formed as Lorelai looked at her daughter. It took her a second before she registered in her head that this was real. She just ran and wrapped her arms around her daughter.

"My baby is home." She said through the tears.

"I feel out of place here." April said as she looked at her father.

"Come her April." Lorelai said as she motioned at the young girl. "Rory this is your stepsister April." Lorelai said as she moved a piece of hair out of April's face. Rory just looked at her mother puzzled for a moment. "Luke I have both my girls." Lorelai said as the tears filled her eyes again. He was about to say something when Jess and Tristan started banging on the door.

"You know I didn't mind so much you sending us to get supplies to cover the rush, but locking us out is fucked." Jess said as the two walked in. "Where did our rush go?" He asked Luke as he sat his bags on one of the tables.

"I closed up early." Luke answered as he motioned the sobbing mess in the middle of his diner. Tristan stood there in the doorway frozen as he looked at the little girl who was kicking her feet in the air totally ignoring what was going on around her. She had his eyes.

"Mom let me breathe." Rory said as she crawled out of her mother's grip. Her eyes just met Tristan's. What is he doing here? This was far from his scene. "Hi." She said weakly. After all what do you say to the man you were too dumb to admit you loved. The man you left behind five years ago right after telling him he was going to be a dad.

"Okay now I feel really uncomfortable here." April whispered as Hope jumped off the stool she was sitting on.

"Excuse me." She said as she tugged on the bottom of Tristan's shirt. He just looked down and smiled at her. "Are you the man from the picture?" She asked him.

"Hope don't bother him." Rory said as she looked at her daughter.

"She isn't bothering me." Tristan said as he looked at Rory before he knelt down to look at the little girl. "What picture?" He asked.

"The one Mommy keeps in her purse." Hope said as she ran back to the counter and grabbed her mother's purse. She pulled out Rory's wallet before walking over to him again. "Mommy says this is my daddy." Hope said as she handed him the open wallet. He looked at the picture of him and Rory at Chilton before he looked up at Rory.

"You told her about me." He said softly.

"Of course you are her father." She replied softly.

"I knew it was you." Hope said as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you daddy." The little girl squealed. He just hugged her back and said "I love you too Hope."

"Hope is her middle name." Rory said as she looked at them. "Her full name is Lorelai Hope DuGray Gilmore."

"That's a very pretty name for a very pretty little girl." Tristan said as he looked at the little girl.

"That's what I thought." Rory said simply.

"Can we eat now?" Hope asked causing her mother to smile.

"Of course, just tell Grandpa Luke what you want." Luke said as he walked over to Tristan.

"Grandpa Luke?" Rory asked.

"We have a lot to fill you in on." Lane said with a smile.


	3. Chapter 3

"I can't believe I missed your wedding." Rory said as she looked at her mother who was filling her in on the past five years. She had missed her mother and Luke getting married. She missed when his nephew moved in with them. She missed when they found out that Luke was April's father. She missed the tears and pain that surrounded the death of April's mother. She missed when Jess proposed to Lane. She missed when her mother found out she was pregnant just a few weeks ago. Listening to all these stories made her realize how much she gave up in her teenage stupidity.

"Please your mother would do it all over again just for the attention." Jess said with a laugh from across the room where him and Tristan had set Hope up with crayons and every coloring book Doose's had. Rory couldn't help, but smile at the sight.

"You know you didn't have to leave." Lorelai said as she smiled at her daughter. "You would have been our Rory no matter what." She said softly.

"I thought I was doing the right thing." Rory said as she looked at Tristan. She thought back to the last time they saw each other.

_They were sitting in his car just a few miles from the inn her mother ran. They had pulled over on the side of the road so they could talk. "It wasn't just a one night stand to me." He said as he looked at her. "Rory I love you and we can make this work." He said as he took her hand in his. _

_ "Tristan…you have so many opportunities waiting for you." She said as she started to cry. _

_ "This could be our adventure." He said as he whipped her eyes. _

_ "Do you really want your only adventure in life to be a teenage father?" She asked him. "Sure we could have that picture perfect small town life….but Tristan that will never be enough for you." She said before she got out of the car. After that the only contact was the "It's for the best" phone call. _

She watched from across the diner as Tristan got up. "Rory can I talk to you outside?" He asked. She just nodded as she got up.

"Go ahead and cuss me out. Tell me you want to take her away from me. I don't blame you for hating me." She said as they walked a crossed the street from the diner.

"I would never take that little girl away from you…and Rory I don't hate you." He said as he led her to the gazebo.

"You should." She said as she sat down.

"But, I don't." He said as he sat down next to her. "Look…Rory all I have done for five years is think about you. What could I have done to make you stay?" He said as he looked at her.

"You couldn't have done anything." She said weakly.

"I guess so…but, in these years I did a lot of thinking. And you were wrong." He said as he paused for a second. "That picture perfect small town life is exactly what I want." He said as he dug in his jacket pocket. "So, what do you say?" He asked as he placed a ring box in her hand.

"Wow." She said softly as she looked at the box.

"I got that for you the day you told me you were pregnant." He said as he smiled at her. "I still love you. I hope that you still love me. But, think it over and let me know." He said as he got up. He walked down the steps before she reacted.

"YES!" She yelled as she stood up. He just turned around and smiled. "I thought about you every day too. I kicked myself in the ass for never telling you how I felt. Leaving was the dumbest thing I ever did. So, yes." She said as she walked towards him. "But, you're going to have to ask better."

"I love you Rory." He said as he pulled her into a kiss. She just laughed as they pulled apart and she saw her everyone in the dinner lined up looking out the window. "Sometimes I wonder why I love them." He said with a laugh as he turned his head.

"I understand that." She said with a smile as he dropped to one knee.

"Lorelai Leigh Gilmore, I promise to love you for the rest of my life. Will you do me the great honor of marrying me?" He asked as he slipped the ring on her hand.

"I love you." She said as he stood back up.

"Never leave me again." He whispered as he leaned in to kiss her again.

"I won't." She said before their lips met. But, their moment was short lived because the diner gang was running across the street in no time to congratulate them. Tristan just picked Hope up and wrapped his other arm around Rory. "We are a family now." She said with a smile as she looked at her little girl.

"That's how it was always meant to be." Tristan whispered to her.


	4. Chapter 4

It was hard to believe that it had been a year already, but just thinking about the last year brought a smile to Rory's face. It was unreal in a way. All those years in Boston she knew something was missing, but now everything seemed complete. Her life was complete. Even if she was camped out on her bathroom floor at six in the morning. She could here Tristan and Hope down the hall laughing as they made breakfast. Tristan had become everything she ever dreamed of. He was a wonderful father for Hope and that little girl adored him. Yet, somehow sitting there on the blue title she was scared looking at the box in her hand. Sure he was the perfect father for Hope. He wasn't there for the three a.m. feedings and diaper changes. She felt like bashing her head into the vanity when there was a knock at the door. "Yeah!" She called from her seat on the floor.

"Ror, its Jess I need some advice, can we talk?" The voice came from the other side of the door. It was funny really that Jess molded into her life just like the brother she never had. Sometimes she felt like she was closer to him than to Lane, but then she reminds herself that she was gone for five years. She just sighed as she opened the bathroom door to see him standing there looking like hell.

"Who all is out there?" She asked him.

"Tristan and Hope." He replied looking at her like she had completely lost her mind. "What is going on with you?" He asked as he looked behind her trying to figure out what made her so jumpy.

"You will know in about a minute, so if you want advice hurry up with it." She replied as she looked back at the timer sitting on the floor.

"Right, morning sickness I don't know what to do, she is so miserable." He said as he looked at the floor trying to figure out what was going on with her.

"Keep crackers and Sprite on your nightstand. Have her eat some before she gets up, believe it or not it helps." She replied as she looked back into the bathroom again. The timer had gone off causing her to run back towards the middle of the little room. She felt tears fill her eyes as she looked at the counter. Pink. "Pink!" She squealed as she zoomed past her friend standing in the doorway. Rory Gilmore was never one for running, but she ran into her kitchen right into her fiancé's arms. "I love you." She said as she placed her lips on his.

"Not that I didn't love the good morning greeting, but what is going on with you Mar?" Tristan asked as he looked at her.

"It was pink." She said only bringing confusion to his face. "Tristan, I am pregnant." She said barely above a whisper.

"Oh, wow." He said as he smiled at her before kissing her again. "I love you." He whispered to her as he just held her there for a moment before Jess interrupted them.

"If Lane asked you threw up when she told you, I am not looking like the bad husband again." Jess muttered to Tristan causing the couple to laugh as Rory looked at the little girl sitting at the kitchen table. She just prayed that all her children were as perfect as her little Hope.


End file.
